This book provides a series of comprehensive views on various important aspects of vertebrate photoreceptors. The vertebrate retina is a tissue that provides unique experimental advantages to neuroscientists. Photoreceptor neurons are abundant in this tissue and they are readily identifiable and easily isolated. These features make them an outstanding model for studying neuronal mechanisms of signal transduction, adaptation, synaptic transmission, development, differentiation, diseases and regeneration. Thanks to recent advances in genetic analysis, it also is possible to link biochemical and physiological investigations to understand the molecular mechanisms of vertebrate photoreceptors within a functioning retina in a living animal. Photoreceptors are the most deeply studied sensory receptor cells, but readers will find that many important questions remain. We still do not know how photoreceptors, visual pigments and their signaling pathways evolved, how they were generated and how they are maintained. This book will make clear what is known and what is not known. The chapters are selected from fields of studies that have contributed to a broad understanding of the birth, development, structure, function and death of photoreceptor neurons. The underlying common word in all of the chapters that is used to describe these mechanisms is “molecule”. Only with this word can we understand how these highly specific neurons function and survive. It is challenging for even the foremost researchers to cover all aspects of the subject. Understanding photoreceptors from several different points of view that share a molecular perspective will provide readers with a useful interdisciplinary perspective.

This well-structured and lavishly illustrated book is a comprehensive reference on intraocular inflammation that encompasses all anatomic forms, settings and etiologies. Individual sections are devoted to uveitis associated with systemic disorders, uveitis syndromes restricted to the eye, bacterial uveitis, viral uveitis, fungal uveitis, parasitic uveitis, uveitis caused by other microbes, traumatic uveitis, and masquerade syndromes. Chapters on the different forms of uveitis are in a homogeneous reader-friendly format, with identification of core messages, explanation of etiology and pathogenesis, up-to-date information on diagnostics and differential diagnosis and guidance on the most appropriate forms of treatment and prognosis. Helpful flow charts are included to assist in identification of potential underlying disorders and the reader will also have online access to one hundred informative case reports demonstrating the different courses of intraocular inflammation. The authors are world experts keen to share their vast experience with the reader. Intraocular Inflammation will be a valuable resource for all physicians who deal with patients with inflammatory eye disease.

The long-awaited second edition of an authoritative reference on electrophysiologic vision testing, including detailed information on techniques and problems, basic physiology and anatomy, theoretical concepts, and clinical findings; with extensive new material. This authoritative text is the only comprehensive reference available on electrophysiologic vision testing, offering both practical information on techniques and problems as well as basic physiology and anatomy, theoretical concepts, and clinical correlations. The second edition, of the widely used text, offers extensive new material and updated information: 65 of the 84 chapters are completely new, with the changes reflecting recent advances in the field. The book will continue to be an essential resource for practitioners and scholars from a range of disciplines within vision science. The contributions not only cover new information—important material that is likely to become more important in the next decade—but also offer a long-range perspective on the field and its remarkable development in the last century. After discussing the history and background of clinical electrophysiology, the book introduces the anatomy of the retina and principles of cell biology in the visual pathways at the molecular, physiological, and biochemical levels. It relates these new findings to the techniques and interpretations of clinical tests, including the electro-oculogram (EOG), electroretinogram (ERG), and visual evoked potentials (VEP), which are discussed in detail, as are equipment, data acquisition and analysis, principles and protocols for clinical testing, diseases and dysfunction, and animal testing. Notable additions for this edition include chapters on the origin of electroretinogram waveforms, multifocal techniques, testing in standard laboratory animals, recent advances in analysis of abnormalities in disease, and the applications of these techniques to the study of genetic abnormalities.

In recent years, enormous progress has been made on nonlinear dynamics particularly on chaos and complex phenomena. This unique volume presents the advances made in theory, analysis, numerical simulation and experimental realization, promising novel practical applications on various topics of current interest on chaos and related fields of nonlinear dynamics.Particularly, the focus is on the following topics: synchronization vs. chaotic phenomena, chaos and its control in engineering dynamical systems, fractal-based dynamics, uncertainty and unpredictability measures vs. chaos, Hamiltonian systems and systems with time delay, local/global stability, bifurcations and their control, applications of machine learning to chaos, nonlinear vibrations of lumped mass mechanical/mechatronic systems (rigid body and coupled oscillator dynamics) governed by ODEs and continuous structural members (beams, plates, shells) vibrations governed by PDEs, patterns formation, chaos in micro- and nano-mechanical systems, chaotic reduced-order models, energy absorption/harvesting from chaotic, chaos vs. resonance phenomena, chaos exhibited by discontinuous systems, chaos in lab experiments.The present volume forms an invaluable source on recent trends in chaotic and complex dynamics for any researcher and newcomers to the field of nonlinear dynamics.

Combining the materials science, technological, and device aspects of organic bioelectronics based on green materials, this is the first overview of the emerging concepts involving fabrication techniques for sustainable electronics with low energy and material consumption. With contributions from top-notch editors and authors, in one focus, the book covers a collection of natural materials suited for electronics applications such as paper, silk, melanin, DNA and nucleobases, resins, gums, saccharides, cellulose, gelatine and peptides. In another thrust, the book focuses on device fabrication based on these materials, including processing aspects, and applications such as sensors, signal transducers, transient, implantable and digestible electronics. With its interdisciplinary approach this text will appeal to the chemistry, physics, materials science, and engineering communities.

The automation of visual inspection is becoming more and more important in modern industry as a consistent, reliable means of judging the quality of raw materials and manufactured goods . The Machine Vision Handbook equips the reader with the practical details required to engineer integrated mechanical-optical-electronic-software systems. Machine vision is first set in the context of basic information on light, natural vision, colour sensing and optics. The physical apparatus required for mechanized image capture – lenses, cameras, scanners and light sources – are discussed followed by detailed treatment of various image-processing methods including an introduction to the QT image processing system. QT is unique to this book, and provides an example of a practical machine vision system along with extensive libraries of useful commands, functions and images which can be implemented by the reader. The main text of the book is completed by studies of a wide variety of applications of machine vision in inspecting and handling different types of object.